Cable television systems have made possible the transmission of many channels of television programs to the home of the consumer. In most cable television systems, a special converter commonly referred to as the set top box is used at the consumer location to allow the consumer to select among the various available channels and to unscramble premium channels for which extra charges are made. Certain of these premium programs can be very expensive. For example, a premier sporting event can have a large fee associated with watching it. A problem facing the operators of cable television systems is that of assuring that a consumer who has ordered a premium program is indeed receiving that program. If the consumer is not receiving the premier program, steps must be immediately taken to assure that the consumer receives the correct program. In addition, there is also the problem that the consumer may not be operating their television set correctly in order to receive the program via the cable television system but believe that there is a problem. In addition, the ability to diagnose precisely when the incorrect delivery of a program occurred and to capture such data digitally for later analysis allows the operator of the cable television system to resolve conditions that are causing incorrect delivery of programming.